Geelong accuses AFL of caving in to Magpie-led campaign on equalisation

Geelong president Colin Carter has accused the AFL of caving in to a Collingwood-led campaign in its failure to adequately address the growing divide between the rich and poor clubs.

With the Cats facing a $300,000 tax slug in 2014, Carter revealed his club was attempting to rewrite its position in the new tax structure unveiled by Gillon McLachlan earlier this month – a structure he called both disproportionate and ill-conceived – claiming his club had been "screwed".

The former AFL commissioner said the competition's equalisation policy had been wrongly sold and designed and that the poorer clubs such as St Kilda and the Western Bulldogs should have been compensated through an equation based upon the inequalities of the fixture and widely varying stadium agreements.

And in a significant criticism of internal AFL policy, Carter added: "Philosophically I don't believe in AFL executives getting bonuses tied to attendances. That was put in place after I left the commission."

Geelong made a $1.2 million profit last season compared with Collingwood's $5.2 million but concerted lobbying by the Magpies saw the revenue tax capped at $500,000 compared with the Cats' $300,000. Geelong's misgivings are shared to varying degrees by Essendon, Adelaide, Fremantle, Carlton and Richmond – all middle-ranked clubs.

"There are two major issues here," Carter said. "One is the equalisation method itself and two is the fact that Geelong is being screwed.

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"I had great support for the AFL carting some clubs off to the US in an an attempt to demonstrate their point but the mistake they made is they allowed the conversation to be hijacked by taxation. They could have achieved a better outcome and everything they intended to achieve by compensation.

"Instead Eddie (McGuire) and Andrew (Newbold, the Hawthorn president) started screaming about the game taking away their hard-earned and they succeeded in getting a deal which weakens the position of the middle clubs against the wealthy.

"The compensation should have been linked to the fixture which is significantly unequal when you consider a game like Anzac Day is worth $1 million to those clubs. And it should have been linked to the various stadium agreements. The small clubs are being forced to play at Etihad Stadium which is too large generally for their attendances and it continues to hurt their economies."

The Geelong president was a key architect of the 1985 national competition lay-out and said that back then most of the wealthy clubs had better understood the need for the uncertain onfield outcomes. Carter added he had outlined his disappointment with the AFL's disproportionate taxation measures in a yet-to-be-delivered letter to AFL chiefs Mike Fitzpatrick and McLachlan.

Carter's written protest which he said contained "moderately intemperate language" was awaiting delivery pending a meeting this week designed to outline and potentially alleviate the Cats' misgivings between Geelong chief executive Brian Cook and AFL executive Sam Graham.

"The taxation has been hopelessly compromised because Eddie refused to pay it," Carter said. "I don't mind the tax on footy departments but this notion of a cap of half-a-million dollars on the rich clubs is a joke.

"The philosophy is wrong. What we are doing is just screwing the middle class while the rich are able to get their affairs in order which is what happens in real life.

"To take $300,000 from us and $500,000 from Collingwood actually weakens our position against Collingwood. And for the AFL to come out at the end and say they won't be taking money for equalisation from club revenues ... what an admission of defeat.

"Our club supported the genuine attempt to bridge the growing divide between the clubs but now it seems that the ones that shouted the loudest have been rewarded."

Fremantle chief executive Steve Rosich said on the eve of the equalisation roll-out: "You'd hate to sees disproportionate burden to be carried by a mid-tier club as opposed to a top-tier club."

Intense lobbying from the wealthy clubs led by the Magpies and including West Coast (with a 2013 profit of $4.1 million) and Hawthorn ($3.1 million) saw the AFL back down from its original revenue tax equation. Now the 2015 equalisation pool will include club contributions of no more than $4 million and as low as $3 million although the AFL will top up that amount with money from its club future fund.

The key recipients of the equalisation pool in 2015 will be Brisbane, St Kilda and the Western Bulldogs along with Melbourne, Port Adelaide and North Melbourne.

The clubs will also be taxed for exceeding a soft cap on football department spending which is expected to cost the Magpies a further $1 million.